May 26, 2009

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"Fat Actress" actress and Scientologist Kirstie Alley is on a Twittering crusade against a bill that would provide money for screening, diagnosis and treatment of postpartum depression.

The Mother's Act, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), seems innocuous enough — but it's become a major target of the church, .which opposes the use of drugs to treat psychiatric ailments.

Alley, a Level 7 Scientologist who was once a spokeswoman for the church's drug treatment program, thinks the Menendez bill is being pushed by Big Pharma.

A similar bill recently passed the House with just three "no" votes and it has widespread support from mental health groups and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, but it's drawn fire from a range of others, mainly on the right, who believe the possible use of a mental health questionnaire used for screenings is intrusive and unconstitutional.

Brooke Shields, who has been at odds with Scientologists for years over the use of anti-depressants to cope with her own postpartum woes, is a big backer of the measure.

Some recent tweets from Alley, courtesy Celebitchy, which broke the story:

I have to get you all info on THE MOTHER’S ACT. this is this lousy BILL that would give BIG BROTHER the right to force you to drug ur kids

AND MANDATE that when you are pregnant, YOU MUST take drugs if a Dr. tells you to. THIS is BIG BROTHER at his finest. More on this soon moms

I am organizing a MILLION MOM MARCH to protest this BILL. It just keeps rearing it’s head. BACKED 100% by BIG PHARMA. MOMS UNITE!!

BABIES HAVING PROZAC squirted in there eyes at birth to prevent depression later on. HELLO 1984.. I will keep you informed. It is brutal!

The goal is to PRE-SCREEN pregnant mothers for depression. If they fit the bill, it is mandated ‘TREATMENT” which is DRUGS.and for her BABY.

A Menendez spokesman says that Alley's assertion are farcical — and that the bill's provisions, based on a Jersey statute, are voluntary.

"There is nothing in this bill that forces expectant mothers or new mothers to do anything, much less take medication," said Afshin Mohamadi. "Furthermore, the pharmaceutical industry has had nothing to do with this bill. We frankly have no idea where they get this stuff."

We did a quick Nexis and Google on the Prozac squirting claim and couldn't find any basis in the charge.

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Reader Comments (10)

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Is it really that hard to link to the text of the actual bill? You've got a bunch of nonsensical tweets from a celebrity, the least you could do is point people to the text of the actual bill so they can read it:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.20:
Guess what, nothing Alley says is true.

This is all just anti-psychiatry rant per the Scientology handbook. They don't care if they are lying about the facts as long as it serves their ultimate goal of eliminating psychiatric help for people. They believe psychiatry is responsible for all the evil in the world; they are seriously messed up.

There is no squirting, I assure you. Only helping women who need help, like I needed when I went through it, by funding more research and services. -- Katherine Stone, Postpartum Progress (http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com)

At some point in the future celebrities will not be considered a legitimate source of information on medical and scientific matters. I'm not sure when that will be.
We could try ignoring crazy people. Kirstie here should consider herself on notice, as should Jenny McCarthy. I believe the term is waste of space.

Kirstie is absolutely right. We are becoming more and more a medical fascist society. Psychiatric medications killed a friend and damaged many of my beloved friends and family. There is a reason there are Black Box warnings on these things so please stop being naive or lying that they are harmless. I don't care if you think it works for you, placebo effect or drug euphoria, it causes harm to others.
Check out the site below to see some personal stories of people harmed by psychiatric drugs.
http://www.ssristories.com/index.php

The most obvious problem with the bill is simple and its Menendez who hasn't done his homework. This is Pharma's dream bill. There are hundreds upon hundreds of reports on file with the FDA on side effects of antidepressant and anti-psychotic drugs on pregnant women and nursing mothers, already being prescribed for women diagnosed PPD. These have been filed as official adverse reactions with the FDA?s Medwatch system by doctors, pharmacists, other health care providers and consumers. Anyone can verify this for themselves. There are numerous clinical trials showing the harm of these drugs on pregnant women and nursing mothers (conducted by scientists and researchers who were NOT getting paid by Pharma when they did their research). Considering women are already being put on these drugs for ?postpartum depression? and since there is obviously a risk (which the PPD proponents never really promote?hmmm wonder why that is?) ask yourself why there is not very specific language in the MOTHERS Act stating, ?Hey folks, before we go endorsing, promoting or increasing mental health screening of pregnant women and new moms, considering there are documented risks of these drugs being given to women diagnosed PPD, we are going to do the right thing by them, their unborn children and nursing infants and very, very thoroughly review ALL FDA adverse reaction reports which we have never done! We are also going to review all existing clinical trial data on the side effects of these drugs, (not the ones published by Pharma funded researchers,) which we have also never done! We are then going to publish those findings, ensure any conflicts of interest of the ?researchers? are disclosed (see NIH now asking if they should INCREASE their disclosure of conflicts of interest of their own researchers), then we are going to make all this information available for consumer and peer review from the medical community to ensure we have published accurate information. Ok after we have done our due diligence, then, and only then, will we even consider any new ?screening? tools being promoted or used in any medical setting (which we will also ensure are not designed by anyone receiving Pharma funds as many screening tests have been) and we certainly will not allow any national ?educational? or PSA campaigns (which we should really call what they are, Pharma?s advertising dream ? national TV and radio coverage of PPD with absolutely no FDA oversight on false or misleading advertising claims as they are PSAs; while their current clinical drug trials for treating PPD roll through ) we will not allow any of this considering what we already know, that the FDA has been investigated for withholding information on antidepressant dangers by Congress (2004) that conflicts of interest are rampant with numerous pharma ?researchers? and or ?experts? that screening tools have in the past been the brainchild of Pharma, and that there are already numerous reports on file with the FDA on the drugs being prescribed to treat women causing horrific side effects. No, we will not be party to augmenting or increasing or endorsing any of these things as we care about mothers and their unborn children.? Yep. Thats what a bill designed to protect mothers instead of Pharma would say.

If you want the facts on the bill, go to uniteforlife.wordpress.com and read the first entry on the blog which addresses the language of the bill. I find it funny that Menendez's aides don't recall last year's bill which said it was "to ensure new mothers are screened and provided with services." Conveniently they claim the bill won't force anyone yet they were fine with screening being "ensured" last year. News flash - as someone who was screened and forcibly trated w/ drugs even though they made me psychotic, this bill will indeed increase forced treatment. And there is nothing in the bill about informed consent - why? Menendez refuses to add it.